Why is Ireland falling behind?
Less than half of the Irish people think the country is headed in the right direction. How did we let it get this bad, and is the Presidency to blame?
Valourist in Dublin
Published 15 Feb 2026
Recent statistics as part of the February 2026 census all but confirm one thing: Ireland is falling behind, and the establishment is letting it happen.
It’s crucial that the problem is diagnosed. Let’s review the symptoms.
The Social Democrat government of July-September 2024 reported that 1,100 individuals were employed in Ireland. This is Ireland’s all-time peak for recorded employment. That number today is just 310, a herculean 70 per cent drop. This is one of the most telling symptoms of Ireland’s decline, and presents an origin for the systemic regression the Emerald Isle has faced.
It’s not just employment. The courts have faltered too. There was a major resurgence in activity during November 2025 under the leahvnx ministry, but since her departure, the Courts are back to their awfully slow ways- something I criticised Chief Justice Lewis Daugherty for at length during my stint as Justice Minister. The plaintiff in Acheson v. State has waited since December for a judgement, while under the leahvnx ministry, wait times were less than seven days. Between July and September 2024, some cases, like dylanhello20 v. Valourist, were solved from submission to judgement in 4 days. What we’re seeing is a serious step back.
Then still, it’s not just justice. Each political party is in some kind of disarray. Popular support amongst them has never been so hung, and support for the individual leaders themselves has never been so low. The January election gave us a 6-seat minority government. This is unprecedented and borderline undemocratic: the incumbent Social Democrat regime commands a mandate from just 29% of the electorate. That’s about half of half. To reiterate, for the sake of emphasis, this government was selected by a quarter of the electorate. Rule by the minority is not democracy.
Even then still, it’s not just politics. The national police force is crippled. It has held no event, had no presence, and issued no public or private statement since Christmas. The Financial Times, as part of our investigative journalism, receives from a source inside an Garda Síochána that no communication at all has been issued from command to general personnel since the 23rd of December 2025. That is eight weeks ago. Such would have been intolerable under former Commissioners, and yet no work has been done to tackle this glaring inactivity.
Furthermore, people have lost faith in the national broadcaster. As part of polling by former President Cillian Clarke earlier this month, RTÉ commands a public approval rating of just 52%. This is a trend: since the appointment of leahvnx as Director-General, the national broadcaster has lost much of its credibility- in the same Cillian Clarke polling, 26 of 36 respondents (72%) said they’d prefer an alternative to RTÉ. This, like many of the other statistics we’ve presented, is unprecedented, and suggests a massive fall-off for what should be a voice of truth and reason.
And so in a nation where we can tangibly observe stagnation and decline in employment, politics, the national police force, the national broadcaster, the justice system and perhaps many other organs as well, how many of us, as her residents, can be optimistic? This is a question the census asked, and it found that national optimism stands at just fifty per cent, its lowest ever. In the face of this, one may well look to our First Citizen for guidance, as we have since His Excellency President Novak set that precedent four years ago.
Atop the mountain now is President Oskar O’Sullivan. In December, he was elected on the smallest mandate for a president ever, orders of magnitude lower than President O’Neill in 2023, following a controversial candidate selection process. Now, having taken office, Mr. O’Sullivan counts more critics than he does plaudits.
“Oskar O’Sullivan and his corrupt cronies are coming in droves”
- High Court Judge Dave O’Cullane in 2025
“Oskar’s messed up.”
- DanAndPuppyDAB, an O’Sullivan-appointed Councillor of State, in 2025
First Citizens, be them Presidents or Governors-General, always have an aura of respect, charm, and class about them. Each First Citizen, in their own respective right, has left a noble legacy as a learned philosopher of state, chosen by God himself as the glimmering representative of the best of Ireland. It’s clear, by President O’Sullivan’s lacking approval rating and repeated calls for his impeachment following allegations of cronyism and incompetence, that this spoken-of aura may well be lost upon our newest First Citizen. Polling by The Weather Report provides that 41% of respondents disapprove of the President and feel he could be doing better in his role. This is the highest disapproval for a President ever.
And so we have our symptoms: a universal national pessimism, massive concerns about national security, an unprecedented record-low employment, a dead justice system, a dead national police force, a national broadcaster that has lost the trust of the people, a government in office off the mandate of just a quarter of the population, and a President lacking in presidential qualities.
We can make our diagnosis. Ireland has fallen behind. And it’s because the wrong people are in the wrong places, making the wrong decisions.
“We have bad party leaders.”
- RTÉ Director General leahvnx in February 2026
The Weather Report said ‘a new generation of politicians [are] ravaging Ireland.’ They’re probably right.
Fresh faces show up as bashful young Teachtaí Dála and usurp powerful political positions almost as fast as they were given their start. Having had no experience actually plying trade within Ireland’s institutions, they get to ministerial office and have no plan. It’s this infectious political careerism that is squarely to blame.
A report on party campaigning over the January election period found not one unique policy provided by any of the parties. Each individual policy, in some way, shape or form, that any of the five parties chose to identify with, had been espoused in campaigning at some point before.
There’s a lack of creativity among the new crop because they simply do not know which areas to target. Having never served in the Civil Service, or the national police force, or the Defence Forces, or in the private sector, they rely on plagiarised policies. This is a recipe for stagnation, and almost perfectly explains why nothing new has come of the newest generation of politicians, and why no progress has been made in over a year across Ireland’s public institutions and agencies.
That isn’t to say new politicians can’t win big and leave solid legacies, nor is it to say new politicians have no place in Ireland. This is not an article written in blind defence of the old guard. New politicians have come in, shaken up the system, and made real change before. Take TrueDonald in 2024. An avid newcomer, he became Taoiseach just months after joining the group, having immersed himself in the law and in the Defence Forces before beginning his political campaign. Or perhaps DiarmuidODonovan in 2023, himself an enthusiastic newcomer, revered for his competence in journalism before his eventual accession to national politics.
There has been no effort to slow down the spread of political careerism among the new generation. Group management do not put enough effort into providing alternative role-play outside of politics. They clearly have the means: recent investment into the Defence Forces is already paying out dividends, with the re-establishment of the Air Corps proving itself daily to be a fruitful endeavour reinvigorating the Irish war capacity. It must be the police force next, and the private sector after, if Ireland is to have any hope of turning the wheels of change back in the right direction.
Politicians must embrace progress, too, and try to expand their horizons. Join Garda, or the Army, and stay active and present there before taking up politics full-time. Learn about the grass roots of Ireland before trying to lead her. Figure out what Ireland truly needs- not what the Labour Party in their September 2023 campaign thought it needed. Simply: be better politicians.
And to A Shoilse: consider your legacy. Will you go in the wrong direction and reward political careerism, or will you be a real President and make yourself an example of meritocracy and breadth in government? As Ireland’s leading voice, you are the guide of change: no one else. With each breath, and each stroke of the pen, you make precedents. Be mindful of what those precedents are, and ensure you reflect on the precedents of your predecessors as well. And be wary: should you lose the trust of the people, the people will lose trust in the State as a whole. It is imperative you do not let this happen.
Progress isn’t stumbled upon. It’s curated, it’s sown, and it’s tailored. It’s time our leaders start putting thought into building and delivering progress, rather than aimlessly hoping to cross paths with it.